


Princess Aurora On The Pea

by nazgulofangmar



Series: The Bookstore Chronicles [2]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, Funny, Humour, M/M, No Drama, Sarcasm, Sass, Snark, based on a real story, bookstore, bookstore story, ty is being snassy, zane has to deal with stupid people, zane is being snassy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 08:05:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16869235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazgulofangmar/pseuds/nazgulofangmar
Summary: Zane is enjoying a calm and relaxed morning in the bookstore when a customer tries his patience.





	Princess Aurora On The Pea

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to Texas Gal for your insight (you'll get a stupid name every time).

Zane unlocked the door and flipped the handwritten sign so it said ‘open’. He enjoyed the minutes before the first customers came into the store. It had something deeply soothing to be surrounded by books and a moment of silence. Occasionally interrupted by soft _thump_ of one of the kittens jumping from the shelves. The calm before the storm.

Zane went behind the counter and started to sort through orders that had come in over night. It was a slow morning and Zane could afford to sit behind the computer for the better part of it. He helped customers find what they were looking for and recommended a few titles to those who were unsure what they wanted. All in all the store was engulfed in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. Zane made sure not to think how lovely and calm it was. With his luck he’d jinx it and get nasty customers. While Ty seemed to attract the crazy ones like a magnet he had his fair share of assholes.

Zane could hear Ty rummage around on the second floor, probably shelving and switching out the displayed books. Zane didn’t mind that his husband kept shifting books around, it showed the customers that the store was curated. And it kept that squirrelly brain of his occupied.

Zane looked up from the computer when he heard the door open. The temperatures had dropped considerably over the last few days and they had already started to heat the store. A cold draft caught the bare skin of his forearms and he shivered. Zane rolled his eyes when the woman moved into the store and left the door open. Not a good start. He pushed away from the counter.

“Good morning, Ma’am. Can I help you at all? Or would you prefer to browse?”

The woman looked up and put the book back on the table she had picked it up. Zane noticed that she placed it on the pile next to the one where it was supposed to go. As she looked around Zane discreetly moved the book where it belonged. “Actually yes, you could help me. I’m looking for an e-reader. Do you sell those?”

Zane nodded and started walking towards the stairs. “We have a small assortment of e-readers on the second floor. If you would follow me.”

“What brand do you sell?” The woman wanted to know, not moving a single inch.

“We sell the devices by _Aurora_ ”, Zane answered, turning back around.

“ _Aurora_ has a big sale going on right now. Does that mean you sell the _Aurora Glow_ for half the price as well?”

Zane sighed inwardly. This was not going to be easy. He could already tell that this woman would not give up until she got a discount. The store barely made any money on the e-readers, the shipping costs and scant booksellers discount leaving almost no space to manoeuvre. Giving customers random discounts was certainly not on the table.

“I am very sorry, Ma’am but _Aurora_ only offers these special discounts at their own physical stores or on their website. Other companies or individual stores such as this one are excluded from these sales.”

“Is there no chance you could give it to me for the same price?”

Zane blinked. The woman had not registered anything he’d just said. At all. He sighed and explained again that there was no way he could give a discount on the e-reader. “No, Ma’am, I a very sorry but if you want the discount you’ll have to either drive to Annapolis where the nearest _Aurora_ store is located or order it online. We’re not part of _Aurora_ so we can’t offer the same sales.”

Zane waited patiently for her to ask him again if he couldn’t give her a discount. He could never tell if people really were this dumb or if they knew exactly what they were doing. Maybe all those assholes were so used to getting their way by being annoying and downright rude to retail employees that they thought they could bully anyone into giving them what they wanted. Zane gave her his sweetest smile. It wouldn’t work on him.

“What are the steps to having a book sold at your store? Say, if I wanted you to sell something I wrote?” The woman casually picked up a book and glanced at the blurb. Disinterested, she put it down again. On the wrong pile.

Zane blinked in surprise but got hold of his expressions quickly. He hadn’t expected a complete U-turn in topics. She probably wanted to stall and distract him. Sweeten him up and then ask for a discount again. Nothing he couldn’t handle, though. He was married to a Grady and therefore used to unexpected changes of topics. Nothing and nobody could throw him off his game any more. “It depends. If the book is purchasable through the major distributors we’ll take a look at it and decide if it’s something for our store. If the book was published independently we’ll invite the author to a official meeting and if we like their work we take it on commission.”

“I see.”

“Are you a writer yourself then, Ma’am?”

“Not really a writer, no.” She let a fake-humble shrug roll off her shoulders. “I’ve co-written a book and wanted to know if you might want to buy it.”

“What kind of book is it?”

“Oh it’s a wonderful composition of poetry, songs and solemn texts. Perfect for the Christmas season. It would come up to $99.”

Zane hid his explosive laughter in a violent coughing fit but immediately caught himself and smiled at the woman. “Excuse me, I shouldn’t be working with the door open so often. It’s getting cold after all.”

The woman was not impressed at all. “So, do you want it?”

“We’d have to read into first, obviously before we-”

“No, no, no, I don’t want a commission contract”, the woman interrupted Zane. “I want to sell my book to you and as payment I’d accept the _Aurora Glow_.”

Zane stared at her as if she had suddenly grown another head. “You want to trade your $99 book for a $195 e-reader?”

“If you take the _Aurora_ sales offer into account it would come to $130”, the woman replied haughtily and crossed her arms.

Zane scoffed. “I am sorry, Ma’am but we don’t trade. We sell books for money because we ain’t a bazaar. The prices on the labels are final. Nothing can change that fact.”

The woman’s expression immediately darkened as though black clouds had drawn together over her head and she pressed her lips into a thin white line. “Fine!” she snapped. “I won’t be treated like this. I want to speak to your manager!”

Zane was about to happily tell her that he was in fact the owner of the store when he had a much better idea. He smiled at the woman and held up his index to let her know he’d be right back. Zane picked up the phone on the counter and dialled.

“My manager will be with you in a second”, Zane informed the woman with an insidiously friendly smile once he’d hung up. She didn’t even notice the glee in his features or tone of voice. She smugly raised an eyebrow at Zane who leaned against the counter and decided to watch. Too bad he didn’t have any popcorn.

“What seems to be the problem?”

“Are you the manager?”

“Yes, I am. What can I do for you, Ma’am?” Ty smiled at the woman, shooting Zane a quick unamused glare. Zane recognised the smile as wolfish but the customer freely interpreted as obliging. This should be good.

“Your employee refuses to give me a discount on the _Aurora Glow_ and has turned down my more than generous offer to trade my self-published book for the e-reader. I want him fired for bad customer service.”

“I’m sorry, Grady but I really didn’t want to keep this from you”, Zane drawled. “If you wanna sack me, make sure you divorce me first.”

Ty glanced at Zane who only smirked and blew him a kiss. His eyes sparkled mischievously. That’s how you want to play this?, Ty thought. I’ll make you pay you asshole.

Zane grinned when Ty turned back to the lady. He knew his husband was having a good day. Otherwise he’d never have let him loose on a customer. An angry customer no less. Being forced to remain calm and not just shoot people was proving a bit tricky for Ty but he managed admirably. So far nobody had got hurt.

“Divorce?” The woman’s voice had become noticeably higher.

“This is my husband. And he is right on every account. Whatever he told you is how we do things around here. Discounts on _Aurora_ products is a big no-no. And did you seriously offer to _trade_ a book for an e-reader??” Ty laughed. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! And that’s saying something because a patron already asked me today if they had to read our invitation cards to events closely to know if they are really located at our store.”

“No way!” Zane laughed. “Seriously? What did you reply to that?”

“I said that those who read them carefully will find the clues to a great treasure hunt. But that they had to be careful because the CIA will be monitoring our readings to flush out treasure hunters who aren’t registered with the Baltimore Treasure Squad.”

Zane sighed. “Of course you did.”

The woman looked from Zane to Ty, confusion clear on her face. “You are completely nuts! I’ll take my business elsewhere!” Without another word she rushed out of the store.

Ty laughed and looked utterly please with himself. Zane pushed away from the counter and closed the door the woman hadn’t shut on her way out either. When he turned to his husband again he was met with an accusing pointing finger. “Pushing the crazies on me? You- _ahhh_!”

Ty suddenly found himself pinned against the counter with Zane leaning in enough for him to lose any leverage he once might have possessed. With Zane’s extra hight on him there was nothing he could do without seriously hurting him. “Don’t be like that, doll. You like dealing with the crazies. Makes you happy”, Zane drawled with a smirk.

Ty huffed and reached a hand around Zane to place it on his shoulder blade. His fingers grabbed the soft fabric. He shifted slightly under him as if he were trying to wriggle free of Zane’s hold. Zane pressed harder against him. “Are you mad, darling?” Zane whispered in his ear with that slow drawl that made Ty’s belly flip pleasantly and he growled.

“Not at all, Lonestar.” Ty lifted his leg he had hooked around Zane’s hollow of the knee and tugged at his shirt at the same time. Zane’s leg buckled beneath him and Ty pushed with his shoulder. He barely braced Zane’s fall as he flipped him to the ground. 

“But you still deserve to be punished.” Ty called back over his shoulder with a grin as he walked towards the stairs. “No more kisses until you make it up to me. And it better involve me on my knees.”

Zane laughed and pushed to his elbows. He watched the retreating form of his husband and couldn’t help but check out his ass.

“Um, I’m sorry to interrupt”, a voice next to Zane asked and he looked up from the floor. A young man with a pile of books and a shy smile was standing next to him. Judging from the colour on his cheeks he had witnessed their entire conversation. “Is this a bad time to pay for these books?”


End file.
